Microbial-induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) is a biological process inducing biomineralization of CaCO3. This can be used to form a solid, concrete-like material. To be able to use MICP successfully to produce solid materials, it is important to understand the formation process of the material in detail. It is well known that crystallization surfaces can influence the precipitation process. Therefore, we present in this contribution a systematic study investigating the influence of calcite seeds on the MICP process. We focus on the changes in the pH and changes of the optical density (OD) signal measured with absorption spectroscopy to analyze the precipitation process. Furthermore, optical microscopy was used to visualize the precipitation processes in the sample and connect them to changes in the pH and OD. We show, that there is a significant difference in the pH evolution between samples with and without calcite seeds present and that the shape of the pH evolution and the changes in OD can give detailed information about the mineral precipitation and transformations. In the presented experiments we show, that amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) can also precipitate in the presence of initial calcite seeds and this can have implications for consolidated MICP materials.The World Health Organization (WHO) considers mycetoma, chromoblastomycosis, and paracoccidioidomycosis to be fungal neglected tropical diseases (FNTDs). Depending on climatic, cultural, and economic contexts, these diseases have a similar geographical distribution as many other diseases, particularly tuberculosis (TB) and malaria, but are often less targeted by the national and many international healthcare systems. Another subgroup of fungal infections, such as candidiasis, cryptococcosis, pneumocystosis, histoplasmosis, and to a lesser extent, aspergillosis, are known as AIDS-related mycoses. Although antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been able to decrease the mortality rate of these diseases, particularly cryptococcosis, the disproportionately low distribution of funds to their diagnosis and treatment remains an obstacle in saving and improving the lives of patients affected. A new wave of viral diseases dubbed the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) hit the world at the end of 2019. Due to progressive symptoms and high mortality rates of COVID-19 compared to fungal infections, particularly the FNTDs, funding is currently allocated predominantly for diagnostic and therapeutic research on COVID-19. As a result, advances in FNTDs and AIDS-related mycosis care are considerably reduced. This paper explores the association between COVID-19, FNTDs, and AIDS-related mycoses with a predictive perspective.Quorum sensing (QS) is a bacterial communication process mediated by both native and non-native small-molecule quorum sensing modulators (QSMs), many of which have been synthesized to disrupt QS pathways. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/torin-1.html While structure-activity relationships have been developed to relate QSM structure to the activation or inhibition of QS receptors, less is known about the transport mechanisms that enable QSMs to cross the lipid membrane and access intracellular receptors. In this study, we used atomistic MD simulations and an implicit solvent model, called COSMOmic, to analyze the partitioning and translocation of QSMs across lipid bilayers. We performed umbrella sampling at atomistic resolution to calculate partitioning and translocation free energies for a set of naturally occurring QSMs, then used COSMOmic to screen the water-membrane partition and translocation free energies for 50 native and non-native QSMs that target LasR, one of the LuxR family of quorum-sensing receptors. This screening procedure revealed the influence of systematic changes to head and tail group structures on membrane partitioning and translocation free energies at a significantly reduced computational cost compared to atomistic MD simulations. Comparisons with previously determined QSM activities suggest that QSMs that are least likely to partition into the bilayer are also less active. This work thus demonstrates the ability of the computational protocol to interrogate QSM-bilayer interactions which may help guide the design of new QSMs with engineered membrane interactions.Cellulose fibers (C40 and C80) were extracted from khat (Catha edulis) waste (KW) with chlorine-free process using 40% formic acid/40% acetic acid (C40), and 80% formic acid/80% acetic acid (C80) at the pretreatment stage, followed by further delignification and bleaching stages. Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs40 and CNCs80) were then isolated from C40 and C80 with sulfuric acid hydrolysis, respectively. Thus, the current study aims to isolate cellulose fibers and CNCs from KW as alternative source. The KW, cellulose fibers, and CNCs were investigated for yield, chemical composition, functionality, crystallinity, morphology, and thermal stability. CNCs were also evaluated for colloidal stability, particle size, and their influence on in vitro diclofenac sodium release from gel formulations preliminarily. The FTIR spectra analysis showed the removal of most hemicellulose and lignin from the cellulose fibers. The XRD results indicated that chemical pretreatments and acid hydrolysis significantly increased the crystallinity of cellulose fibers and CNCs. The cellulose fibers and CNCs exhibited Cellulose Iβ crystalline lattice. TEM analysis revealed formation of needle-shaped nanoscale rods (length 101.55-162.96 nm; aspect ratio 12.84-22.73). The hydrodynamic size, polydispersity index, and zeta potential of the CNCS ranged from 222.8-362.8 nm; 0.297-0.461, and -45.7 to -75.3 mV, respectively. CNCs40 exhibited superior properties to CNCs80 in terms of aspect ratio, and colloidal and thermal stability. Gel formulations containing high proportion of CNCs sustained diclofenac sodium release ( less then 50%/cm2) over 12 h. This study suggests that cellulose fibers and nanocrystals can be successfully obtained from abundant and unexploited source, KW for value-added industrial applications.We reported that bisphenol AF (BPAF) works as an agonist for estrogen receptor (ER) ERα but as an antagonist for ERβ. Similar results were observed for bisphenol E analogs (BPE-X) such as BPE-F, BPE-Cl, and BPE-Br, each consisting of a series of a tri-halogenated methyl group CX3 in the central alkyl moiety. It was demonstrated that the electrostatic halogen bond based on the dispersion force of halogen atoms is a major driving force in the activities of bifunctional ERα-agonist and ERβ-antagonist. Since the chlorine atoms present in bisphenol C (BPC) exist in a π-π conjugated system due to the presence of an adjacent C = C double bond, we intended to prove that BPC is also a bifunctional ERα-agonist and ERβ-antagonist exhibiting greatly enhanced agonist/antagonist activities. BPC was evaluated for its ability to activate ERα and ERβ in the luciferase reporter gene assay using HeLa cells. With high receptor-binding ability to both ERs, BPC was found to be fully active for ERα but inactive for ERβ. BPC's definite antagonist activity in ERβ was revealed by its inhibitory activity against 17β-estradiol.